Variable line spacing device for typewriters



3,280,957 VARIABLE LINE SPACING DEVICE FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed Oct. 17, 1963 R. 1. THIEL Oct. 25, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Kabert 12 T lzz'el 1 n2 ATTORNEY Oct. 25, 1966 R. 1. THlEL 3,280,957

VARIABLE LINE SPACING DEVICE FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed Oct. 17, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 6 III: INVENTOR 7 12:: 3 5 1, Tidal /ol::l BY

- ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,280,957 VARIABLE LINE SPACING DEVICE FOR TYPEWRITERS Robert I. Thiel, Epping Forest, Annapolis, Md. Filed Oct. 17, 1963, Ser. No. 316,958 4 Claims. (Cl. 197-114) This invention relates to the legibility and interlinear spacing of printed matter and to apparatus used in the preparation thereof so that such printed matter will completely fill a predetermined space or will have a predetermined spacing between lines of such matter.

The invention relates particularly to a device applicable to a standard typewriter for altering the line spacing mechanism in such a manner that the vertical justification of the lines of type will be arranged to fill a predetermined amount of space in a vertical direction as well as a device for spacing lines of type according to a predetermined number of points of leading.

Heretofore it has been the practice of editors of publications to specify a certain amount of interlinear space between lines of printed matter in terms of leading. As an example such printed matter may call for 12 point type with 2 point leading, with each point of leading equaling 0.13837 inch. This would result in the desired spacing between the letters of one line and the letters of the adjacent lines in a vertical direction according to the preference of the individual editors. Normally the use of a typewriter has been precluded since the typewriter is provided with a fixed tooth ratchet which advances the platen a predetermined amount each time the carriage is moved from one side of the machine to the other. It has been possible to alter the lateral justification of the lines so that both borders will be substantially straight by first typing the material and then spacing the letters the desired amount in the final typing of the material. However, the space between lines has remained substantially constant in typewritten material.

Recently typewriters have been improved to accommodate many toothed ratchets to regulate to some extent the spacing between lines of type but these ratchets necessarily must be limited in their movement. In some instances, a newspaper for example, a particular column may be short and leave a space at the bottom of the column to be filled. A regular Weekly publication may have a format which calls for two alternative close-lined spacings as standards to distinguish editorial matter from factual account, and both of these spacings may be within an increment of 0 to 4 points of leading. Such delicate increments of interlinear space would not be possible to achieve by the simple adjustment of the typewriter line spacing mechanism from single to double spacing since the line spacing lever operates to regulate an index pawl to engage 1, 2 or 3 teeth on the platen ratchet for single, double, or triple space, respectively. The more sophisticated typewriters have reduced the interlinear spacing to half spaces. However, the resultant interlinear space is far in excess of the typographic standards desired.

It is an object of the invention to increase the quantity of line spacing variables obtainable with one platen ratchet and to provide means for regulating the line spacing mechanism of a typewriter to control the interlinear spacing between lines of type.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for attachment to a conventional typewriter which can be moved into and out of operative engagement when desired to regulate the interlinear spacing between typewritten lines.

Still another object of the invention is to provide apparatus for attachment to a conventional typewriter in which such apparatus has cooperating gears, certain of which are interchangeable, to alter the interlinear space between the lines of type by any desired amount.

A further object of the invention is to provide a typewriter with a fixed optimum standard of interlinear spacing and a variable optimum standard of interlinear spacing for each movement of the typewriter ratchet.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective of a typewriter illustrating one application of the invention;

FIG. 2, an enlarged end elevation of the invention of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3, a side elevation thereof to a reduced scale;

FIG. 4, a section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5, a side elevation illustrating the invention out of engagement;

FIG. 6, an enlarged section taken along the line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7, a perspective of a housing for the invention when applied to a typewriter;

FIG. 8, a diagrammatic view of the present invention; and

FIG. 9, a diagrammatic view of printed matter using standard typewriter spacing.

Briefly stated the present invention is an apparatus for attachment to a conventional typewriter and includes a first gear attached to the typewriter platen ratchet, a second gear attached to the platen, a pivotally mounted body or enlargement having a pair of gears rotatably mounted thereon and movable into and out of engagement with the first and second gears. One pair of meshing gears may be permanently mounted or may consist of drive gear permanently mounted and its engaging gear easily replaceable and the other pair of meshing gears are easily replaceable so that when the typewriter is in use the amount of rotation of the platen is controlled by the ratchet and may be advanced a first predetermined distance when the gears are out of engagement and a second predetermined distance when the gears are in engagement.

With continued reference to the drawings, a typewriter 10 having operating keys 11 is provided with a carriage 11 having a platen 12. Such platen is rotatably mounted on the carriage 11 and is driven by a ratchet 13 engageable by an index pawl 14 carried by a lever 15 and adapted to be operated when the carriage 11' is returned from the left-hand side of the machine to the right-hand side of the machine. The movement of the lever 15 will cause the index pawl 14 to engage one of the teeth of the ratchet 13 and to rotate such ratchet and platen a predetermined distance.

Normally the ratchet frictionally engages and drives a clutch mechanism including a clutch ring 16, which engages a clutch member 17 and causes rotation of such clutch member, which in turn rotates the platen 12. The clutch member 17 is located within a bifurcated sleeve 18 attached to the platen, and such clutch member is movable horizontally within such sleeve into and out of engagement with the clutch ring 16. The clutch member 17 is mounted on a shaft 19 disposed within a sleeve 20 and such sleeve extends outwardly beyond the platen to a position adjacent to the edge of the carriage 11' of the typewriter.

A spring 21 is disposed against the inner end of the shaft 19, and such spring normally urges the clutch member 17 outwardly into engagement with the clutch ring 16 so that when the ratchet 13 is rotated the platen like wise will be rotated. In order to provide for manual adjustment of the platen, the outer end of the shaft 19 is provided with a button 22 disposed within an operating knob 23 fixed to the outer end of the sleeve 20 so that printed matter using when the button is depressed the shaft 19 will move the clutch member 17 out of engagement with the clutch ring 16 and permit free rotation of the platen 12 by the operating knob 23, The sleeve 20 is connected to the bifurcated sleeve 18 by means of a flange 24 in engagement with the bifurcated sleeve 18 and connected thereto by fasteners 25. The parts thus far described are conventional with standard typewriters.

In order to provide interlinear spacing between lines of type in any desired increments to provide a selected number of points of leading which is variable with respect to the spacing caused by the indexing of the ratchet 13, the mechanism of the present'invention is applied to i the type writer to cause the platen to rotate while the button 22 is depressed and the clutch ring 16 and clutch member 17 are out of engagement. This is done by providing a gear 26 having a predetermined number of teeth, and such gear is connected to the ratchet 13 by rivets 27 or other fastening means and is separated from such ratchet by a spacer 28. A cooperating gear 29 fixed to a shaft 30 by a set screw 31 is adapted to be moved into and out of engagement with the gear 26 when desired. The shaft 30 is rotatably carried by a bearing 32 fixed within a body or enlargement 33 having an arm 34 extending rearwardly therefrom. The free end of the arm is pivotally mounted by a pivot pin 35 to the fixed structure of the typewriter 10. A gear 36 is keyed or otherwise attached to the opposite end of the shaft 30 and is retained thereon by a nut 37 in such a manner that the gear 36 can easily be removed and replaced. The gear 36 selectively is adapted to mesh with a cooperating gear 38 keyed or otherwise mounted on the free end of the sleeve 20 as illustrated in FIG. 4.

The body 33, which carries the gears 29 and 36, is adapted to be moved generally vertically so that such gears mesh with the gears 26 and 38 respectively or can be moved out of engagement therewith. In order to move the body 33 the arm 34 has an operating lever 39 secured at one end to such arm, and the opposite end of such lever is provided with an outwardly turned flange 40. The flange 40 rests upon the button 22 when the body is in the raised position, and in order to move the cooperating gears into mesh with each other, the button 22 is depressed to release the clutch member 17 from the clutch ring 16 and the body 33 is lowered, at which time the lever 39 will bear against the pressing surface of the button 22 and will retain such button in its inner position with the clutch disengaged.

When the return key of the typewriter is pressed, the index pawl 14 will engage the ratchet 13 and cause such ratchet to rotate a predetermined distance. The gear 26, which is attached to the ratchet 13, likewise will rotate and cause rotation of the gear 29 meshing therewith, and the rotation of the gear 29 will rotate the gear 36, which in turn will rotate gear 38 and drive the sleeve 20 to rotate the platen. The gears 36 and 38 are easily replaceable by other cooperating gears having different numbers of teeth so that any desired interlinear spacing between lines of type can be accomplished merely by altering the gear ratio and number of teeth of the gears 36 and 38.

The conventional typewriter is provided with an upper and lower housing for the ratchet 13 and in order to accommodate the gears of the present invention the upper housing is removed and replaced by an upper housing 41 while the lower housing 42 remains fixed on the machine. The upper housing is pivotally connected to the lower housing by a pin43 at'one end and is attached at the opposite end by a spring clip 44. The gears are maintained in meshing relation by a leaf spring 45 secured at one end to the upper housing 41 by rivets or other fasteners 46 and the free end of the spring rests upon the body 33 and exerts a downward force thereon. When the gears are out of engagement the flange 40 will rest upon the button 22 so that the spring 45 cannot force the gears downwardly into engagement.

In the operation of the device a chart will be supplied to the typist which will indicate the correct gearing for certain predetermined situations. When a predetermined leading is indicated the typist will apply the gears which will produce the correct interlinear spacing and will then type a first or rough copy to determine the spacing required for horizontal justification and then type a second or final copy inserting the correct horizontal spacing. When the printed matter is to fill a predetermined space, as indicated at b in FIG. 9, the first rough copy will be typed using the conventional typewriter spacing, as indicated at .a in FIGS. 8 and 9, after which the typed material will be measured and compared to the space b to be filled. The difference between the space to be filled and the conventional spacing, indicated at c in FIG.,

9, will be noted and the chart will be referred to to determine the correct gears 36 and 38 to be applied to the sleeve 20 and shaft 30, respectively, which will result in the correct vertical justification of the printed matter. It will be noted that the space to be filled could be represented by the letter a in FIG. 9 and the conventional typewriter spacing could be represented by the letter b in which case the selected gears would increase the spacing between lines. After the selected gears have been applied the button 22 is depressed and the gears are lowered into meshing engagement by the operating lever 39 and such lever will bear against the button 22 to de-clutch the clutch mechanism as long as the gears are in mesh.

It will be apparent that a relatively simple variable line spacing device has been provided for a typewriter which has cooperating gears, certain of which are interchangeable, to alter the interlinear space between lines of type by any desired amount.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limited by that which is illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A variable line spacing device for typewriters having a platen rotated by a ratchet and an index pawl, comprising a first gear fixedto said ratchet and having a predetermined number of teeth, a body pivotally mounted on said typewriter, a shaft freely rotatable within said body, a second gear fixed to one end of said shaft and adapted selectively to mesh with said first gear, a third gear mounted on the opposite end of said shaft, a fourth gear mounted on said platen and adapted to mesh with said third gear when said first and second gears are in engagement, clutch mechanism carried by said platen, means for operating said clutch mechanism, and means for maintaining said clutch mechanism so that the parts are out of engagement when said gears are in engagement, whereby when the gears are in engagement and the typewriter is operated said ratchet will operate the several gears to advance the platen a predetermined amount.

2. The structure of claim 1 in which said third and fourth gears are of a character to be replaced by gears having different numbers of teeth for obtaining a different interlinear spacing of the lines produced by the typewriter.

3. A variable line spacing device for a typewriter having a platen with a ratchet controlled by clutch mechanism for rotating said platen, said line spacing device comprising a body mounted on said typewriter, a first pair of selectively engageable gears carried one by said ratchet and the other by said body, a second pair of selectively engageable gears carried one by said body and the other by said platen, means for maintaining said clutch declutched and for moving said pairs of gears into meshing relation, whereby said platen will be rotated a predetermined amount when the gears are out of engagement and will be rotated a different predetermined amount when the gears are in engagement.

4. A variable line spacing device for a typewriter having a platen with a ratchet means controlled by a clutch mechanism comprising means for rotating said ratchet means to move said platen when said clutch mechanism is engaged, a body mounted on said typewriter in spaced relation to said platen, a first pair of selectively operable drive and driven means carried one by said ratchet means and the other by said body, a second pair of selectively operable drive and driven means carried one by said body and the other by said platen and being operable simultaneously with said first pair of drive and driven means, means for disengaging said clutch mechanism, and means for operatively engaging said first and second pairs of drive and driven means, whereby when said clutch mechanism is disengaged, said means for rotating said ratchet means will operate said first and second pairs of drive and driven means to rotate said platen.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT E. PULFREY, Primary Examiner.

DAVID KLEIN, Examiner. 15 E. T. WRIGHT, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A VARIABLE LINE SPACING DEVICE FOR TYPERWRITERS HAVING A PLATEN ROTATED BY A RATCHET AND AN INDEX PAWL, COMPRISING A FIRST GEAR FIXED TO SAID RATCHET AND HAVING A PREDETERMINED NUMBER OF TEETH, A BODY PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID TYPEWRITER, A SHAFT FREELY ROTATABLE WITHIN SAID BODY, A SECOND GEAR FIXED TO ONE END OF SAID SHAFT AND ADAPTED SELECTIVELY TO MESH WITH SAID FIRST GEAR, A THIRD GEAR MOUNTED ON THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID SHAFT, A FOURTH GEAR MOUNTED ON SAID PLATEN AND ADAPTED TO MESH WITH SAID THIRD GEAR WHEN SAID FIRST AND SECOND GEARS ARE IN ENGAGEMENT, CLUTCH MECHANISM CARRIED BY SAID PLATEN, MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID CLUTCH MECHANISM, AND MEANS FOR MAINTAINING SAID CLUTCH MECHANISM SO THAT THE PARTS ARE OUT OF ENGAGEMENT WHEN SAID GEARS ARE IN ENGAGEMENT, WHEREBY WHEN THE GEARS ARE IN ENGAGEMENT AND THE TYPEWRITER IS OPERATED SAID RATCHET WILL OPERATE THE SEVERAL GEARS TO ADVANCE THE PLATEN A PREDETERMINED AMOUNT. 